Scientific Research

A small, single-engine plane nose-dived into the dirt Wednesday in Hampton, then flipped tail-over-nose onto its back. One observer deemed the crash likely fatal for any pilot and co-pilot onboard. Luckily, there weren't any — just two crash-test dummies strapped into the pilot and co-pilot seats. This crash was a controlled test, releasing a Cessna 172 from the gantry at NASA Langley Research Center to drop at a steep angle 100 feet to the ground. The goal: to determine if five different emergency locater transmitters (ELTs) strategically positioned around the aircraft could survive such an impact. "It went well," said Lisa Mazzuca, an astrophysicist and mission...

Related "Scientific Research" Articles

A small, single-engine plane nose-dived into the dirt Wednesday in Hampton, then flipped tail-over-nose onto its back.
One observer deemed the crash likely fatal for any pilot and co-pilot onboard.
Luckily, there weren't any — just two crash-test...

The first research project involving the Westminster-Canterbury home on the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Beach will examine the effects of customized technology on the welfare of residents with dementia.
The non-profit lifecare community is conducting...

The monarch butterfly — perhaps the most recognizable of its kind — is fast disappearing, with population declines of up to 90 percent documented over the last decade.
The most likely culprit?
It's not disturbances in the monarch's overwintering sites...

In 2012, marine biologist Edie Widder did something others had attempted for many years, but failed: She recorded an elusive giant squid cavorting in its native deep-sea habitat.
And she and her crew accomplished it by using a method no one had ever...

If British Nobel laureate Tim Hunt had "trouble with girls" before, it's nothing to the trouble he's having now.
Two days after the 72-year-old biochemist told a roomful of scientists and science journalists how "disruptive" women...

If British Nobel laureate Tim Hunt had "trouble with girls" before, it's nothing to the trouble he's having now.
Two days after the 72-year-old biochemist told a roomful of scientists and science journalists how "disruptive" women...

Personalized medicine is moving from the realm of the futuristic to the almost commonplace. A DNA cheek swab now allows scientists to determine how genetic differences cause people to have different responses to the same drug.
And that information allows...

Personalized medicine is moving from the realm of the futuristic to the almost commonplace. A DNA cheek swab now allows scientists to determine how genetic differences cause people to have different responses to the same drug.
And that information allows...

Regional fishery managers meeting in Virginia Beach voted Wednesday to protect deep-sea coral canyons that stretch from offshore Virginia to New York in a historic move advocates say creates the biggest protected area in U.S. Atlantic waters.
The...

The morning skies over Hampton Roads gave way to a brave new world of aerial might and innovation when — on June 11, 1920 — Army and Navy aviators gathered to help dedicate Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton.
Led by Brig. Gen. Billy...

Scooter Ransone, a student at the Chesapeake Bay Governor's School, struggled to grab ahold of a freshly caught baby crab, while his classmates found the humor in his battle.
Gathered on a small pier on Gwynn's Island Tuesday morning, the students...

In a finding important for preventing the development of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and 22 other institutions have determined that the duration of antibiotic treatment for complicated...

Hampton Roads ranked 19 of 40 U.S. metropolitan areas for startup activity, moving up four spots from No. 23 in 2014, according to a report released Thursday.
The region was one of five metro areas experiencing the biggest startup activity shift from...

NASA Langley Research Center is taking an active role in regional economic development, searching for opportunities to solve technological problems for businesses.
"This region has so much potential," Christina Moats-Xavier, NASA Langley's lead...

At 5 a.m. one Saturday in April, Alok Shrestha and his wife were fast asleep in bed in Yorktown when the phone began to ring.
They decided to ignore it.
Minutes later, an alert came through on their cell: A shattering 7.8 magnitude earthquake had just...

HAMPTON — The institutional brainpower that helped land men and machines on the moon will have a new place to crunch data on NASA Langley Research Center's campus.
The computational research facility will become a 40,000-square-foot space where engineers...

University leaders pitched state budget writers on $175 million or so in new building projects Monday, asking for a library addition at Christopher Newport University and a new home for the Virginia Institute of Marine Science's genetic oyster research...

Typical responseRe: "Replica raises Yorktown flap," May 14."It is unfortunate that the coordinators of this project are taking it personally because it is not that at all," Leslie said. "Whether it is the historic...

Editor's note: Reporter Sarah J. Ketchum is participating in an academy hosted by the Newport News Fire Department and writing about her experience.
NEWPORT NEWS — Were you the kid with a chemistry set? Did you like to tinker with gadgets or play video...